Moral Climate

Three years ago last week, in slickers and galoshes, under umbrellas and sodden newspapers, thousands of U. S. citizens stood on the great plaza before the Capitol, saw skullcapped Charles Evans Hughes swear in bareheaded Franklin Delano Roosevelt to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Brandy flasks passed from hand to mouth in the bone-chilling rain. The hundreds of fresh pine benches were too wet to sit on, but drier to stand on than the flooded pavement. Franklin Roosevelt laughed as the rain soaked his second inaugural manuscript, said: ". . . The greatest change we have witnessed has been the change in the moral climate of America." But his voice rang as he spoke his grim vision of the present: "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished."

Last week the famous one-third was little better off. But the other two-thirds were thinking of other things--specifically, one thing: Will Franklin Roosevelt be the first man to make a Third Inaugural Address?

The U. S. moral climate had been feverish and hot, as the country climbed out of the Depression. Last week the atmosphere was very different: a citizenry shagging to the tune of Oh Johnny! refused to take the 1940 Campaign seriously until it knew where Franklin Roosevelt stood. Round-shouldered Columnist Raymond Clapper reported that the Midwest had only the "mildest interest" in the Presidential race. Whirling Washington agreed generally that, while Franklin Roosevelt is evidently preparing to retire, he is a light sleeper and is leaving his bedroom door open.

In Miami, Jack Doyle, King of the Bookies, said: "Not a quarter is being bet."

Last week the President:

> Sat gravely by as Frank Murphy was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice, one hand on his broken-backed old Douay Bible; watched Robert H. Jackson sworn in as Attorney General.

> Received from Pope Pius XII an answer to his Christmas appeal for parallel efforts for peace (TIME, Jan. 1). The Pope also wrote that hopes for peace were not bright, that "we are fully aware of how stubborn the obstacles are that stand in the way . . . and of the consequent slight probability of immediate success so long as the present state of the opposing forces remains essentially unchanged."

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